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Ho Seong Hwang

Publications and source records attributed to Ho Seong Hwang.

At least 109 records · Page 6Linked to original sources

The Velocity Dispersion Function for Quiescent Galaxies in Nine Strong-Lensing Clusters

We measure the central stellar velocity dispersion function for quiescent galaxies in a set of nine northern clusters in the redshift range $0.18 < z < 0.29$ and with strong lensing arcs in Hubble Space Telescope images. The velocity dispersion function links galaxies directly to their dark matter halos. From dense SDSS and MMT/Hectospec spectroscopy we identify $231 - 479$ spectroscopic members in each cluster. We derive physical properties of cluster members including redshift, $D_{n}4000$, and central stellar velocity dispersion and we include a table of these measurements for 3419 cluster members. We construct the velocity dispersion functions for quiescent galaxies with $D_{n}4000 > 1.5$ and within $R_{200}$. The cluster velocity dispersion functions all show excesses at $σ\gtrsim 250 km s^{-1}$ compared to the field velocity dispersion function. The velocity dispersion function slope at large velocity dispersion ($σ> 160 km s^{-1}$) is steeper for more massive clusters, consistent with the trend observed for cluster luminosity functions. The spatial distribution of galaxies with large velocity dispersion at radii larger than $R_{200}$ further underscores the probable major role of dry mergers in the growth of massive cluster galaxies during cluster assembly.

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Lyman-alpha radiative transfer: Modeling spectrum and surface brightness profile of Lyman-alpha emitting galaxies at z=3-6

We perform Lyman-alpha radiative transfer calculations for reproducing Lyman-alpha properties of star-forming galaxies at high redshifts. We model a galaxy as a halo in which the density distributions of Lyman-alpha sources and H I plus dust medium are described with exponential functions. We also consider an outflow of the medium that represents a momentum-driven wind in a gravitational potential well. We successfully reproduce both the spectra and the surface brightness profiles of eight star-forming galaxies at z =3-6 observed with MUSE using this outflowing halo model with Lyman-alpha scattering. The best-fit model parameters (i.e., the outflowing velocity and optical depth) for these galaxies are consistent with other studies. We examine the impacts of individual model parameters and input spectrum on emerging spectrum and surface brightness profile. Further investigations on correlations among observables (i.e., the spatial extent of Lyman-alpha halos and Lyman-alpha spectral features) and model parameters, and spatially resolved spectra are presented as well. We demonstrate that the combination of spectrum and surface brightness profile provides strong constraints on model parameters and thus spatial/kinematic distributions of medium.

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Search for Optically Dark Infrared Galaxies without Counterparts of Subaru Hyper Suprime-Cam in the AKARI North Ecliptic Pole Wide Survey Field

We present the physical properties of AKARI sources without optical counterparts in optical images from the Hyper Suprime-Cam (HSC) on the Subaru telescope. Using the AKARI infrared (IR) source catalog and HSC optical catalog, we select 583 objects that do not have HSC counterparts in the AKARI North Ecliptic Pole (NEP) wide survey field ($\sim 5$ deg$^{2}$). Because the HSC limiting magnitude is deep ($g_{\rm AB}$ $\sim 28.6$), these are good candidates for extremely red star-forming galaxies (SFGs) and/or active galactic nuclei (AGNs), possibly at high redshifts. We compile multi-wavelength data out to 500 $μ$m and use it for Spectral Energy Distribution (SED) fitting with CIGALE to investigate the physical properties of AKARI galaxies without optical counterparts. We also compare their physical quantities with AKARI mid-IR selected galaxies with HSC counterparts. The estimated redshifts of AKARI objects without HSC counterparts range up to $z\sim 4$, significantly higher than that of AKARI objects with HSC counterparts. We find that: (i) 3.6 $-$ 4.5 $μ$m color, (ii) AGN luminosity, (iii) stellar mass, (iv) star formation rate, and (v) $V$-band dust attenuation in the interstellar medium of AKARI objects without HSC counterparts are systematically larger than those of AKARI objects with counterparts. These results suggest that our sample includes luminous, heavily dust-obscured SFGs/AGNs at $z\sim 1-4$ that are missed by previous optical surveys, providing very interesting targets for the coming James Webb Space Telescope era.

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SCUBA-2 Ultra Deep Imaging EAO Survey (STUDIES) IV: Spatial clustering and halo masses of 450-$μ$m-selected sub-millimeter galaxies

We analyze an extremely deep 450-$μ$m image ($1σ=0.56$\,mJy\,beam$^{-1}$) of a $\simeq 300$\,arcmin$^{2}$ area in the CANDELS/COSMOS field as part of the SCUBA-2 Ultra Deep Imaging EAO Survey (STUDIES). We select a robust (signal-to-noise ratio $\geqslant 4$) and flux-limited ($\geqslant 4$\,mJy) sample of 164 sub-millimeter galaxies (SMGs) at 450-$μ$m that have $K$-band counterparts in the COSMOS2015 catalog identified from radio or mid-infrared imaging. Utilizing this SMG sample and the 4705 $K$-band-selected non-SMGs that reside within the noise level $\leqslant 1$\,mJy\,beam$^{-1}$ region of the 450-$μ$m image as a training set, we develop a machine-learning classifier using $K$-band magnitude and color-color pairs based on the thirteen-band photometry available in this field. We apply the trained machine-learning classifier to the wider COSMOS field (1.6\,deg$^{2}$) using the same COSMOS2015 catalog and identify a sample of 6182 450-$μ$m SMG candidates with similar colors. The number density, radio and/or mid-infrared detection rates, redshift and stellar mass distributions, and the stacked 450-$μ$m fluxes of these SMG candidates, from the S2COSMOS observations of the wide field, agree with the measurements made in the much smaller CANDELS field, supporting the effectiveness of the classifier. Using this 450-$μ$m SMG candidate sample, we measure the two-point autocorrelation functions from $z=3$ down to $z=0.5$. We find that the 450-$μ$m SMG candidates reside in halos with masses of $\simeq (2.0\pm0.5) \times10^{13}\,h^{-1}\,\rm M_{\odot}$ across this redshift range. We do not find evidence of downsizing that has been suggested by other recent observational studies.

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Cosmological Information from the Small-scale Redshift Space Distortions

The redshift-space distortion (RSD) in the observed distribution of galaxies is known as a powerful probe of cosmology. Observations of large-scale RSD have given tight constraints on the linear growth rate of the large-scale structures in the universe. On the other hand, the small-scale RSD, caused by galaxy random motions inside clusters, has not been much used in cosmology, but also has cosmological information because universes with different cosmological parameters have different halo mass functions and virialized velocities. We focus on the projected correlation function $w(r_p)$ and the multipole moments $ξ_l$ on small scales ($1.4$ to $30\ h^{-1}\rm{Mpc}$). Using simulated galaxy samples generated from a physically motivated most bound particle (MBP)-galaxy correspondence scheme in the Multiverse Simulation, we examine the dependence of the small-scale RSD on the cosmological matter density parameter $Ω_m$, the satellite velocity bias with respect to MBPs, $b_v^s$, and the merger-time-scale parameter $α$. We find that $α=1.5$ gives an excellent fit to the $w(r_p)$ and $ξ_l$ measured from the SDSS-KIAS value added galaxy catalog. We also define the ``strength'' of Fingers-of-God as the ratio of the parallel and perpendicular size of the contour in the two-point correlation function set by a specific threshold value and show that the strength parameter helps constraining $(Ω_m, b_v^s, α)$ by breaking the degeneracy among them. The resulting parameter values from all measurements are $(Ω_m,b_v^s)=(0.272\pm0.013,0.982\pm0.040)$, indicating a slight reduction of satellite galaxy velocity relative to the MBP. However, considering that the average MBP speed inside haloes is $0.94$ times the dark matter velocity dispersion, the main drivers behind the galaxy velocity bias are gravitational interactions, rather than baryonic effects.

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Mapping the working of environmental effects in A963

We qualitatively assess and map the relative contribution of pre-processing and cluster related processes to the build-up of A963, a massive cluster at z=0.2 showing an unusually high fraction of star forming galaxies in its interior. We use Voronoi binning of positions of cluster members on the plane of the sky in order to map the 2D variations of galaxy properties in the centre and infall region of A963. We map four galaxy parameters (fraction of star forming galaxies, specific star formation rate, HI deficiency and age of the stellar population) based on full SED fitting, 21cm imaging and optical spectroscopy. We find an extended region dominated by passive galaxies along a north-south axis crossing the cluster centre, possibly associated with known filaments of the large-scale structure. There are signs that the passive galaxies in this region were quenched long before their arrival in the vicinity of the cluster. Contrary to that, to the east and west of the cluster centre lie regions of recent accretion dominated by gas rich, actively star forming galaxies not associated with any substructure or filament. The few passive galaxies in this region appear to be recently quenched, and some gas rich galaxies show signs of ongoing ram-pressure stripping. We report the first tentative observations at 21cm of ongoing ram-pressure stripping at z=0.2, as well as observed inflow of low-entropy gas into the cluster along filaments of the large-scale structure. The observed galaxy content of A963 is a result of strongly anisotropic accretion of galaxies with different properties. Gas rich, star forming galaxies are being accreted from the east and west of the cluster and these galaxies are being quenched at r<R200, while the bulk of the accretion, containing multiple groups, happens along the north-south axis and brings mostly passive galaxies.

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Cosmological Parameter Estimation from the Two-Dimensional Genus Topology -- Measuring the Shape of the Matter Power Spectrum

We present measurements of the two-dimensional genus of the SDSS-III BOSS catalogs to constrain cosmological parameters governing the shape of the matter power spectrum. The BOSS data are divided into twelve concentric shells over the redshift range $0.2 < z < 0.6$, and we extract the genus from the projected two-dimensional galaxy density fields. We compare the genus amplitudes to their Gaussian expectation values, exploiting the fact that this quantity is relatively insensitive to non-linear gravitational collapse. The genus amplitude provides a measure of the shape of the linear matter power spectrum, and is principally sensitive to $Ω_{\rm c}h^{2}$ and scalar spectral index $n_{\rm s}$. A strong negative degeneracy between $Ω_{\rm c}h^{2}$ and $n_{\rm s}$ is observed, as both can increase small scale power by shifting the peak and tilting the power spectrum respectively. We place a constraint on the particular combination $n_{\rm s}^{3/2} Ω_{\rm c}h^{2}$ -- we find $n_{\rm s}^{3/2} Ω_{\rm c}h^{2} = 0.1121 \pm 0.0043$ after combining the LOWZ and CMASS data sets, assuming a flat $Λ$CDM cosmology. This result is practically insensitive to reasonable variations of the power spectrum amplitude and linear galaxy bias. Our results are consistent with the Planck best fit $n_{\rm s}^{3/2}Ω_{\rm c}h^{2} = 0.1139 \pm 0.0009$.

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SCUBA-2 Ultra Deep Imaging Eao Survey (Studies) III: Multi-wavelength properties, luminosity functions and preliminary source catalog of 450-$μ$m-selected galaxies

We construct a SCUBA-2 450-$μ$m map in the COSMOS field that covers an area of 300 arcmin$^{2}$ and reaches a 1$σ$ noise level of 0.65 mJy in the deepest region. We extract 256 sources detected at 450 $μ$m with signal-to-noise ratio $>$ 4.0 and analyze the physical properties of their multi-wavelength counterparts. We find that most of the sources are at $z\lesssim3$, with a median of $z = 1.79^{+0.03}_{-0.15}$. About $35^{+32}_{-25}$% of our sources are classified as starburst galaxies based on their total star-formation rates (SFRs) and stellar masses ($M_{\ast}$). By fitting the far-infrared spectral energy distributions, we find that our 450-$μ$m-selected sample has a wide range of dust temperatures (20 K $ \lesssim T_{\rm d} \lesssim$ 60 K), with a median of ${T}_{\rm d} = 38.3^{+0.4}_{-0.9}$ K. We do not find a redshift evolution in dust temperature for sources with $L_{\rm IR}$ > $10^{12}$ $\rm L_\odot$ at $z<3$. However, we find a moderate correlation where dust temperature increases with the deviation from the SFR-$M_{\ast}$ relation. The increase in dust temperature also correlates with optical morphology, which is consistent with merger-triggered starbursts in sub-millimeter galaxies. Our galaxies do not show the tight IRX-$β_{\rm UV}$ correlation that has been observed in the local Universe. We construct the infrared luminosity functions of our 450-$μ$m sources and measure their comoving SFR densities. The contribution of the $L_{\rm IR}$ > $10^{12}$ $\rm L_\odot$ population to the SFR density rises dramatically from $z$ = 0 to 2 ($\propto$ ($1+z$)$^{3.9\pm1.1}$) and dominates the total SFR density at $z \gtrsim 2$.

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S2COSMOS: Evolution of Gas Mass with Redshift Using Dust Emission

We investigate the evolution of the gas mass fraction for galaxies in the COSMOS field using submillimetre emission from dust at 850$μ$m. We use stacking methodologies on the 850$μ$m S2COSMOS map to derive the gas mass fraction of galaxies out to high redshifts, 0 <= $z$ <= 5, for galaxies with stellar masses of $10^{9.5} < M_* (\rm M_{\odot}) < 10^{11.75}$. In comparison to previous literature studies we extend to higher redshifts, include more normal star-forming galaxies (on the main sequence), and also investigate the evolution of the gas mass fraction split by star-forming and passive galaxy populations. We find our stacking results broadly agree with scaling relations in the literature. We find tentative evidence for a peak in the gas mass fraction of galaxies at around $z$ ~ 2.5-3, just before the peak of the star formation history of the Universe. We find that passive galaxies are particularly devoid of gas, compared to the star-forming population. We find that even at high redshifts, high stellar mass galaxies still contain significant amounts of gas.

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Estimating the molecular gas mass of low-redshift galaxies from a combination of mid-infrared luminosity and optical properties

We present CO(J=1-0) and/or CO(J=2-1) spectroscopy for 31 galaxies selected from the ongoing MaNGA survey, obtained with multiple telescopes. This sample is combined with CO observations from the literature to study the correlation of the CO luminosities ($L_{\rm CO(1-0)}$) with the mid-infrared luminosities at 12 ($L_{12 μm}$) and 22 $μ$m ($L_{\rm 22 μm}$), as well as the dependence of the residuals on a variety of galaxy properties. The correlation with $L_{\rm 12 μm}$ is tighter and more linear, but galaxies with relatively low stellar masses and blue colors fall significantly below the mean $L_{\rm CO(1-0)}-L_{\rm 12μm}$ relation. We propose a new estimator of the CO(1-0) luminosity (and thus the total molecular gas mass) that is a linear combination of three parameters: $L_{\rm 12 μm}$, $M_\ast$ and $g-r$. We show that, with a scatter of only 0.18 dex in log $(L_{\rm CO(1-0)})$, this estimator provides unbiased estimates for galaxies of different properties and types. An immediate application of this estimator to a compiled sample of galaxies with only CO(J=2-1) observations yields a distribution of the CO(J=2-1) to CO(J=1-0) luminosity ratios ($R21$) that agrees well with the distribution of real observations, in terms of both the median and the shape. Application of our estimator to the current MaNGA sample reveals a gas-poor population of galaxies that are predominantly early-type and show no correlation between molecular gas-to-stellar mass ratio and star formation rate, in contrast to gas-rich galaxies. We also provide alternative estimators with similar scatters, based on $r$ and/or $z$ band luminosities instead of $M_\ast$. These estimators serve as cheap and convenient $M_{\rm mol}$ proxies to be potentially applied to large samples of galaxies, thus allowing statistical studies of gas-related processes of galaxies.

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The impact of the dynamical state of galaxy groups on the stellar populations of central galaxies

We study the stellar populations of the brightest group galaxies (BGGs) in groups with different dynamical states, using GAMA survey data. We use two independent, luminosity dependent indicators to probe the relaxedness of their groups; the magnitude gap between the two most luminous galaxies ($ΔM_{12}$), and offset between BGG and the luminosity center ($D_{offset}$) of the group. Combined, these two indicators were previously found useful for identifying relaxed and unrelaxed groups. We find that the BGGs of unrelaxed groups have significantly bluer NUV-r colours than in relaxed groups. This is also true at the fixed sersic index. We find the bluer colours cannot be explained away by differing dust fraction, suggesting there are real differences in their stellar populations. SFRs derived from SED-fitting tend to be higher in unrelaxed systems. This is in part because of a greater fraction of BGGs with non-elliptical morphology, but also because unrelaxed systems have larger numbers of mergers, some of which may bring fuel for star formation. The SED-fitted stellar metallicities of BGGs in unrelaxed systems also tend to be higher by around 0.05 dex, perhaps because their building blocks were more massive. We find that the $ΔM_{12}$ parameter is the most important parameter behind the observed differences in the relaxed/unrelaxed groups, in contrast with the previous study of Trevisan et al. (2017). We also find that groups selected to be unrelaxed using our criteria tend to have higher velocity offsets between the BGG and their group.

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The impact of the connectivity of the cosmic web on the physical properties of galaxies at its nodes

We investigate the impact of the number of filaments connected to the nodes of the cosmic web on the physical properties of their galaxies using the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. We compare these measurements to the cosmological hydrodynamical simulations Horizon-(no)AGN and Simba. We find that more massive galaxies are more connected, in qualitative agreement with theoretical predictions and measurements in dark matter only simulation. The star formation activity and morphology of observed galaxies both display some dependence on the connectivity of the cosmic web at fixed stellar mass: less star forming and less rotation supported galaxies also tend to have higher connectivity. These results qualitatively hold both for observed and virtual galaxies, and can be understood given that the cosmic web is the main source of fuel for galaxy growth. The simulations show the same trends at fixed halo mass, suggesting that the geometry of filamentary infall impacts galaxy properties beyond the depth of the local potential well. Based on simulations, it is also found that AGN feedback is key in reversing the relationship between stellar mass and connectivity at fixed halo mass. Technically, connectivity is a practical observational proxy for past and present accretion (minor mergers or diffuse infall).

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JINGLE V: Dust properties of nearby galaxies derived from hierarchical Bayesian SED fitting

We study the dust properties of 192 nearby galaxies from the JINGLE survey using photometric data in the 22-850micron range. We derive the total dust mass, temperature T and emissivity index beta of the galaxies through the fitting of their spectral energy distribution (SED) using a single modified black-body model (SMBB). We apply a hierarchical Bayesian approach that reduces the known degeneracy between T and beta. Applying the hierarchical approach, the strength of the T-beta anti-correlation is reduced from a Pearson correlation coefficient R=-0.79 to R=-0.52. For the JINGLE galaxies we measure dust temperatures in the range 17-30 K and dust emissivity indices beta in the range 0.6-2.2. We compare the SMBB model with the broken emissivity modified black-body (BMBB) and the two modified black-bodies (TMBB) models. The results derived with the SMBB and TMBB are in good agreement, thus applying the SMBB, which comes with fewer free parameters, does not penalize the measurement of the cold dust properties in the JINGLE sample. We investigate the relation between T and beta and other global galaxy properties in the JINGLE and Herschel Reference Survey (HRS) sample. We find that beta correlates with the stellar mass surface density (R=0.62) and anti-correlates with the HI mass fraction (M(HI)/M*, R=-0.65), whereas the dust temperature correlates strongly with the SFR normalized by the dust mass (R=0.73). These relations can be used to estimate T and beta in galaxies with insufficient photometric data available to measure them directly through SED fitting.

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Evolution of star formation rate-density relation over cosmic time in a simulated universe: the observed reversal reproduced

We use the IllustrisTNG cosmological hydrodynamical simulation to study the evolution of star formation rate (SFR)-density relation over cosmic time. We construct several samples of galaxies at different redshifts from $z=2.0$ to $z=0.0$, which have the same comoving number density. The SFR of galaxies decreases with local density at $z=0.0$, but its dependence on local density becomes weaker with redshift. At $z\gtrsim1.0$, the SFR of galaxies increases with local density (reversal of the SFR-density relation), and its dependence becomes stronger with redshift. This change of SFR-density relation with redshift still remains even when fixing the stellar masses of galaxies. The dependence of SFR on the distance to a galaxy cluster also shows a change with redshift in a way similar to the case based on local density, but the reversal happens at a higher redshift, $z\sim1.5$, in clusters. On the other hand, the molecular gas fraction always decreases with local density regardless of redshift at $z=0.0-2.0$ even though the dependence becomes weaker when we fix the stellar mass. Our study demonstrates that the observed reversal of the SFR-density relation at $z\gtrsim1.0$ can be successfully reproduced in cosmological simulations. Our results are consistent with the idea that massive, star-forming galaxies are strongly clustered at high redshifts, forming larger structures. These galaxies then consume their gas faster than those in low-density regions through frequent interactions with other galaxies, ending up being quiescent in the local universe.

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JINGLE, a JCMT legacy survey of dust and gas for galaxy evolution studies: II. SCUBA-2 850 μm data reduction and dust flux density catalogues

We present the SCUBA-2 850 $μm$ component of JINGLE, the new JCMT large survey for dust and gas in nearby galaxies, which with 193 galaxies is the largest targeted survey of nearby galaxies at 850 $μm$. We provide details of our SCUBA-2 data reduction pipeline, optimised for slightly extended sources, and including a calibration model adjusted to match conventions used in other far-infrared data. We measure total integrated fluxes for the entire JINGLE sample in 10 infrared/submillimetre bands, including all WISE, Herschel-PACS, Herschel-SPIRE and SCUBA-2 850 $μm$ maps, statistically accounting for the contamination by CO(J=3-2) in the 850 $μm$ band. Of our initial sample of 193 galaxies, 191 are detected at 250 $μm$ with a $\geq$ 5$σ$ significance. In the SCUBA-2 850 $μm$ band we detect 126 galaxies with $\geq$ 3$σ$ significance. The distribution of the JINGLE galaxies in far-infrared/sub-millimetre colour-colour plots reveals that the sample is not well fit by single modified-blackbody models that assume a single dust-emissivity index $(β)$. Instead, our new 850 $μm$ data suggest either that a large fraction of our objects require $β< 1.5$, or that a model allowing for an excess of sub-mm emission (e.g., a broken dust emissivity law, or a very cold dust component 10 K) is required. We provide relations to convert far-infrared colours to dust temperature and $β$ for JINGLE-like galaxies. For JINGLE the FIR colours correlate more strongly with star-formation rate surface-density rather than the stellar surface-density, suggesting heating of dust is greater due to younger rather than older stellar-populations, consistent with the low proportion of early-type galaxies in the sample.

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Constraining Cosmology with Big Data Statistics of Cosmological Graphs

By utilizing large-scale graph analytic tools implemented in the modern Big Data platform, Apache Spark, we investigate the topological structure of gravitational clustering in five different universes produced by cosmological $N$-body simulations with varying parameters: (1) a WMAP 5-year compatible $Λ$CDM cosmology, (2) two different dark energy equation of state variants, and (3) two different cosmic matter density variants. For the Big Data calculations, we use a custom build of stand-alone Spark/Hadoop cluster at Korea Institute for Advanced Study (KIAS) and Dataproc Compute Engine in Google Cloud Platform (GCP) with the sample size ranging from 7 millions to 200 millions. We find that among the many possible graph-topological measures, three simple ones: (1) the average of number of neighbors (the so-called average vertex degree) $α$, (2) closed-to-connected triple fraction (the so-called transitivity) $τ_Δ$, and (3) the cumulative number density $n_{s\ge5}$ of subcomponents with connected component size $s \ge 5$, can effectively discriminate among the five model universes. Since these graph-topological measures are in direct relation with the usual $n$-points correlation functions of the cosmic density field, graph-topological statistics powered by Big Data computational infrastructure opens a new, intuitive, and computationally efficient window into the dark Universe.

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A redshift survey of the nearby galaxy cluster Abell 2107: Global rotation of the cluster and its connection to large-scale structures in the universe

We study the rotational motion of the galaxy cluster Abell 2107 at redshift z = 0.04 and its connection to nearby large-scale structures using a large amount of spectroscopic redshift data. By combining 978 new redshifts from the MMT/Hectospec observations with data in the literature, we construct a large sample of 1968 galaxies with measured redshifts at clustercentric radius $R < 60^\prime$. Our sample has high (80%) and spatially uniform completeness at r-band apparent magnitude $m_{r,\textrm{Petro},0}$ < 19.1. We first apply the caustic method to the sample and identify 285 member galaxies of Abell 2107 at $R < 60^\prime$. Then the rotation amplitude and the position angle of rotation axis are measured. We find that the member galaxies show strong global rotation at $R < 20^\prime$ ($v_\textrm{rot}/σ_v$ ~0.6) with a significance of > 3.8$σ$, which is confirmed by two independent methods. The rotation becomes weaker in outer regions. There are at least five filamentary structures that are connected to the cluster and that consist of known galaxy groups. These structures are smoothly connected to the cluster, which seem to be inducing the global rotation of the cluster through inflow of galaxies.

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The Effect of Galaxy Interactions on Molecular Gas Properties

Galaxy interactions are often accompanied by an enhanced star formation rate (SFR). Since molecular gas is essential for star formation, it is vital to establish whether, and by how much, galaxy interactions affect the molecular gas properties. We investigate the effect of interactions on global molecular gas properties by studying a sample of 58 galaxies in pairs and 154 control galaxies. Molecular gas properties are determined from observations with the JCMT, PMO, CSO telescopes, and supplemented with data from the xCOLD GASS and JINGLE surveys at $^{12}$CO(1-0) and $^{12}$CO(2-1). The SFR, gas mass ($M_\mathrm{H_{2}}$), and gas fraction ($f_{gas}$) are all enhanced in galaxies in pairs by $\sim$ 2.5 times compared to the controls matched in redshift, mass, and effective radius, while the enhancement of star formation efficiency (SFE $\equiv$ SFR/$M_{H_{2}}$) is less than a factor of 2. We also find that the enhancements in SFR, $M_{H_{2}}$ and $f_{gas}$ increase with decreasing pair separation and are larger in systems with smaller stellar mass ratio. Conversely, the SFE is only enhanced in close pairs (separation $<$ 20 kpc) and equal-mass systems; therefore most galaxies in pairs lie in the same parameter space on the SFR-$M_{H_{2}}$ plane as controls. This is the first time that the dependence of molecular gas properties on merger configurations is probed statistically with a relatively large sample and with a carefully-selected control sample for individual galaxies. We conclude that galaxy interactions do modify the molecular gas properties, although the strength of the effect is merger configuration dependent.

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